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Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Within this past week, we welcomed (from afar) a new niece and a new nephew into Collin's family! His sister had a little girl, Evelyn, and his brother/sister-in-law had a little boy, Conner! Ironically, they both had the same due date... yesterday!! His sister went early and his sister-in-law went a day late but both are healthy and happy now! We're going home in two weekends and I am reallllly excited! Can't wait to meet the little newbies!

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

As I've previously mentioned, I've been on a mission to replace my beauty and household products with a homemade (or at least more natural) product when they are empty. My Windex ran out the yesterday and I decided to try to fill the bottle with a homemade version that actually works just as well.

Well, I think I found a winner, ding ding ding!!

It's called Alvin Corn because it is made of rubbing ALcohol, VINegar, CORN starch, and water. He he Ha ha. I didn't make it up but I did take it from this website: Crunchy Betty.

Just combine everything in a spray bottle and shake well. You'll need to shake it before each use too as the corn starch settles at the bottom and it can clog the spray thinger.

The lady who came up with this little concoction also crunched the numbers and came up with an approximate cost for the entire bottle of glass cleaner... $0.48...you can't buy anything for 48 cents!

Less chemicals, less streaking, no fake blue dye, and less than $0.50 per bottle. It smells like vinegar and I haven't figured out how to scent it naturally but I think it beats the cough-inducing-smell of Windex and the smell disappears very quickly (ie your house won't smell like vinegar!)

PS. I had my first shift off of orientation and on my own at work on Monday! It went really well, I had a full patient load, and I didn't cause further harm to anyone, success! I'm a nurse!

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

After abandoning a book (I know, I feel bad about it) I am back on track with a GOOD book! I started reading State of Wonder by Ann Patchett and just could not get into it. It seemed to drag on and on without anything really happening. It had amazing reviews but I guess that doesn't mean EVERYONE is actually going to love it and since I had maxed out my renewals, I decided that I didn't care to continue... it's not fun forcing yourself to pleasure read.

I forgave myself and moved on to The Midwife: A memoir of birth, joy, and hard times by Jennifer Worth. By page 33 I was already into it and loving it!

It takes place in 1950's England and follows the life of a midwife in training (the author) at the local convent. It's a quick read and would be enjoyable for anyone who likes to read about history. The cockney dialect is funny and interesting to me and this book incorporates it without making reading too difficult.

The back blurb:

An unforgettable story of the joy of motherhood, the bravery of a community, and the hope of one extraordinary womanAt the age of twenty-two, Jennifer Worth leaves her comfortable home to move into a convent and become a midwife in post war London's East End slums. The colorful characters she meets while delivering babies all over London-from the plucky, warm-hearted nuns with whom she lives to the woman with twenty-four children who can't speak English to the prostitutes and dockers of the city's seedier side-illuminate a fascinating time in history. Beautifully written and utterly moving,The Midwifewill touch the hearts of anyone who is, and everyone who has, a mother.

Monday, May 7, 2012

Collin and I went to Durango this past weekend. He met with a dentist for a possible associateship and I went along to check out Durango! Collin has been in love with Durango since setting foot there last year pre-move. Having never been there myself and knowing how Collin's dreamy mind works I wasn't really expecting to absolutely fall in love with the place............but I did.

I took this with my little point and shoot and it's still so beautiful but this doesn't even do it justice

Thursday evening we drove the 6 (or so) hours from the Springs to Farmington, New Mexico. Collin met with the dentist the next morning and afternoon, we had dinner, and then we headed 40 miles north to Durango. These next two pictures are the only ones I took in northern NM...pretty boring!

I wasn't impressed with Farmington so I was really happy when we hit Main Ave Durango. It is just adorable and it helped that it was perfectly sunny and 85 degrees! It reminds me of a mix of Breckenridge (the way the stores/restaurants are set up) + Crested Butte (the cute little houses) + Boulder (relaxed vibe) + historical buildings, nice people, and lots to do!

One of the side streets

The main street has more restaurants per capita than San Francisco! And good ones at that. We've been severely deprived of good food and restaurants in the Springs and this totally made up for it... for a little bit anyway. Everything is just CUTE! It's very clean and has lots of flowers and greenery everywhere.

The streets behind Main are residential and have the most adorable houses. It looks like a little Pleasentville with perfectly manicured yards and gardens with little fences and porch swings....I was in heaven.
This picture is all that I got of the homes because Collin was getting embarrassed of my paparazzi-ness while we were strolling through the neighborhood.

For lunch, we ate at one of the breweries in town called Steamworks. Collin had the in-house smoked pork sliders and I had the "chopped salad."

The chopped salad with smoked salmon and a gorgonzola dressing ended up being more than amazing and the pulled pork was delicious too. We walked around for most of the day and went to a bunch of shops including a fly shop and an antique store. We also hit up a few bars because it was, after all, Cinco de Mayo...or cinco de drinko...which I now prefer.

One of the bars we went to was called Balcony and was, surprise, on a balcony...of sorts.

Sunshine and Ska beer! :)

We found a really cool but overwhelming bookstore.

That night we decided on dinner at Cosmo's. They had outdoor seating on their roof deck and since it was such a gorgeous night (and day) we wanted to enjoy it for as long as possible. I had a drink called First Ascent which was white tea vodka + St. Germain + lemon...it was fabulous...so I had two! We ordered the sushi special for an appetizer and split the halibut special stuffed with lobster, topped with crab, with a side of lobster mashed potatoes, and an arugula salad. I haven't had food this good since Philly! Seriously.

Roof deck with sunset

Laughing while I snap pics

We went out for a little bit afterwards at the Irish Embassy bar and tried to find the boxing match with no luck. We floated back to our hotel at the Hilton which just happened to be overlooking the Animas River and fell asleep to it's sound.
The next morning we packed up and walked into town for breakfast at Jean Pierre's which is a french restaurant and bakery on Main. It was delicious too!

It was an amazing weekend and we didn't want to leave! Here are some mountain pics I took throughout town and on our way home.

Golf course

The gorgeous green pastures at the base of the mountains

Half of the Purgatory Ski Resort entry way...I missed it as we were driving. This resort is only 30 mins from Durango.

Lots of bikers on the passes

Snow capped peaks in May

And it was freeeeezing up there!

We went through Ourey and Silverton on our way home...both tiny little mining towns.

Town of Silverton

I'm looking forward to going back...hopefully soon! But for now, back to reality! I've been working on my student loans and fun things of that sort all day while it snowed outside! Yes, I got a sunburn in Durango two days ago and now it has been dumping big, wet snowflakes all day. Thankfully I didn't have to leave...except we need dinner so I'm going to have to make the trek.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Yesterday we went to Cheesman Canyon, near Deckers, CO, and hiked and fished the river with Allison, Acey, Julia, Christian, and Colleen! We were already a little sore from the incline hike the day before but I was just happy to get out on my weekend off. It was about an hour drive from the Springs and Denver so we met at a little general store and drove the few miles to the trailhead together. Collin geared up for fly fishing and we headed into the woods.

Collin's "skinny hipster" waders

Preforming pre-fishing rituals I think...

Good thing he doesn't read this blog......

Onward!

The view...

The fishermen...

#1

#2

And the spectators...me included. Beer, pretzels, and jerky included as well...duh, that's how we hike!
Umm, PS. Uncle John if you're reading this (or one of his cute little family members) please send jerky!! We're in withdrawal and eating Jack Link's just makes the symptoms worse!

Section one of the peanut gallery

And the rest of us...

The honeymooners :)

I managed a video this time, go me!

Time for bed...I had a surprise 2-hour staff meeting after work, weeee! And now I'm delirious and talking to myself while Suki talks back to me. Sleeping mask, on. Lights, out. Buh bye!